Dutch Dawn
by Kaleyanne
Summary: Sequel to Programming. Jake clears his head after his first day in court, and runs into a peeved, yet forgiving android. For Jinakochan.


Notes: Jinako-chan: I got time and an idea, so here's your sequel to Programming. What do you think?  
  
Dutch Dawn  
  
The sun was long down, and I was restless. The day in court had taken its toll on me, and luckily, Marco and the other two had noticed. And tossed me in the ocean.   
  
I didn't appreciate being forced to morph the happy-go-lucky dolphin, but I did appreciate the support from my friends. And I appreciated it a lot when Ax suggested to Marco that he speak with his mother about her testimony, and asked Cassie about Earth's court systems. I appreciated being left alone.   
  
About the only thing I didn't appreciate was the brisk, cool breeze blowing around me, chilling me to my bones. I hugged myself, and wished I'd brought a down jacket, rather than a simple windbreaker. I'd heard Europe was cold, but this was freaking ridiculous.   
  
"At least now I know why people moved to the Americas," I said aloud, confident only the ocean tide could hear me.   
  
I sure am wrong a lot.   
  
"And just what do you think that is?" a slightly familiar voice asked.   
  
Slightly familiar only because I'd rarely heard such a frigid tone to it.   
  
It hit harder than the ocean winds swirling around me.   
  
"Erek," I said finally. "Where are you?"   
  
The air shimmered about two yards off. The sand and stars were replaced by a strange, alien machine. Four feet tall, and canine. Made of what looked like steel and white plastic. But who truly knew what alloys made up Erek the Chee?  
  
The dog-machine, the true Erek, lingered for a brief moment, before the air shimmered again. Where the machine, the android, had been, a young man appeared. My age. Even looked like me; simple brown hair, tallish, thin form. Not very impressive. Very ordinary.  
  
Looks can be so deceiving.   
  
What stood before me was not some kid who went to my middle school, some kid I had only seen once in awhile, around the halls. He wasn't some random kid my best friend knew, and talked to on occasion.   
  
What hid in the illusion of a human, had hidden for millennia, was an android I knew was not very happy with me.   
  
He should join the club.  
  
"Hey," I said cautiously. I knew Erek could not physically harm me but… Emotionally and psychologically? After five thousand years, who knew?  
  
"Hi," the android replied, just as cautiously. Coldly.  
  
"What are you doing here?" I asked. Direct approach, get it over with.  
  
Erek sighed. "Curiosity decided to kill a cat," he said. "Luckily, I'm a dog person."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Mm-hmm," he replied, noncommittally. "Morbid fascination. And heck, I went to all the big trials of the day. Might as well keep my record straight."   
  
I chuckled. Not out of humor. "Enjoy the show?"  
  
"Oh, immensely." The android smirked. "I haven't seen a courtroom brawl like that since… well, ever." Pause. "And believe me, that is saying something."   
  
"Yeah."  
  
Silence settled in. Thick as ice, or as that soft, fluffy fleece pullover I left in my hotel room. The crash of waves cut through it like a knife, however, and I could almost taste the salt spray. It reminded me of the beach near my hometown, where'd I had spent so much of my time. Good and bad.   
  
Erek finally broke it. "What's bothering you?"   
  
"Huh?"  
  
Cool gray eyes focused on me, gleaming like the chrome on a car. "Come off it," he said. "If I can't read human expressions by now, I must be hopeless. What's bothering you?"  
  
I returned his cool look, giving nothing. I wasn't going to let him know that what he'd said about me at our last meeting had rung so true. And certainly not that it had gotten to me. "I just don't see how any human -- any decent sentient -- can represent the visser in good faith."  
  
Erek laughed. "They're lawyers, Jake. It's their job."   
  
"So?" I asked. "He would have enslaved them, killed all they hold dear." I sighed. "I don't understand it."  
  
"Humans are very proud of their judicial processes," Erek explained. "Most are, anyway. Now that they have contact with other aliens, specifically the advanced Andalites, they want to make a good impression. They want the Andalites, Hork-Bajir and Taxxons to believe them a good, valuable partner and ally."   
  
I snorted. "Morals and values won't impress Andalites. Or Taxxons. And the Hork-Bajir woudn't understand."   
  
"Rather cynical view of the galaxy, isn't it?"   
  
"Are you criticizing it?"  
  
"Heavens, no," he replied, smiling. "To be perfectly honest, I truly believe there is a special level of hell specifically for lawyers who defend murderers and rapists and crap. God knows, if I had to put a Howler to trial…" He trailed off. "Anyway, reporters go there, too."   
  
I laughed. "I like the way you think."   
  
"You wouldn't if you'd been a reporter or a defense attorney," he said. "I have. It sucks. In fact…" he paused, gathering his thoughts. "My friends, Ai-Ling Chang and Carlos Vasquez were both asked to represent Visser One."   
  
"Both Chee?" I demanded.   
  
"Obviously."   
  
"So they know the full extent of the story?"   
  
"Uh-huh."   
  
"Did they agree?"  
  
"Of course not."   
  
"Good." I sighed.   
  
Erek sighed.   
  
"I haven't seen you in the courtroom," I said suddenly.   
  
"I don't go in my 'Erek' guise," he said. "I actually recycled a hologram of a young Roman I played."   
  
"Not want to be seen?"   
  
"And face Cassie?" He laughed harshly. "Nah. I think I'll continue being a coward-- it's worked for five thousand years."   
  
"Why would you not want to see Cassie?" I asked. "She was the only one treating you like a person at the end."  
  
"So I let my temper get the better of me and contribute to her best friend's death," he said wryly. "I'm guilty. And I feel like an idiot. Haven't been that impulsive in centuries."   
  
"I know the feeling," I said gloomily. "Only I'm not that old."  
  
"Yeah, you're allowed to make those mistakes," he said. "Leaders have been for quite some time. Longer than even ancient wonders like myself have been alive.  
  
"But I'm old enough to know better. I do. I've thought about it, and… heck. I may not have agreed, but it was your domain. You ought to've known best."  
  
"Are you ever really old enough to know better about these things?" I asked. "You were right, then." A bitter laugh escaped from me. "Ax used to warn Rachel not to sink to the level of the enemy. Maybe he should've spent more time warning me."   
  
"I doubt that would've worked. You're kinda stubborn, Jake."   
  
"You're probably right."   
  
"Besides," the android began. "It's in the past. And if there's one thing I've learned, it's that you've got to let the past stay in the past. Bygones are bygones, and all that."   
  
"When did you learn this?"  
  
The Chee smiled sheepishly. "One year ago."   
  
I shook my head. "Took ya long enough."  
  
He laughed dryly. "That it did."   
  
He gazed at me, eons of wisdom sifting through liquid steel. No emotion. He must have learned to control that.   
  
"I'm serious, Jake. Leave the past in the past. Learn to live with it or without it. Never in it."   
  
I didn't answer, but gazed out across the horizon.  
  
The sun was rising, a great yellow orb so far away in space. A yellow orb, so elusive at times, rising into my line of vision. Rising to where I can see and be affected by it. Rising from the cold depths of space, bathing the Earth with its influence.   
  
Just like all the other aliens in the galaxy.  
  
The hot ball of liquid fire rose into the sky.  
  
And yet, I was still cold. 


End file.
